What Works Wednesday: How I Educated Myself

I already knew how to read when I entered first grade at St. James Elementary. In fact, I don't remember a time not being able to read, or write for that matter. Maybe it's just my poor memory, since I do have what seems to be years of my life that I cannot remember at all, or maybe it's because I'm already half-past the age toward self-destruct. But I don't want to go there . . .

This July 18th post I'm linking up with What Works Wednesday thanks to Upside Down Homeschooling:

 When my first child was born 26 years ago my husband gently brought up the subject of homeschooling—NOT! He matter-of-factly told me that we would homeschool. (It was kind of like the way he announced that we'd have our babies at home the year before.) His desire for homeschooling stemmed from his misadventures in public school education. He did not want his sons to have to go through what he did. I however, loved school, and used to play teacher to my younger sister, the student. I kind of liked the idea!

 My baby—the last of the bunch!

So, I  left nine years of registered nursing behind to embark on this new journey called boys and all that would come with it. My heavenly dreams of having a child finally materialized, but with my mind reeling and my heart skipping, there was a lot I needed to know, and quickly. I had a great desire to learn. I read numerous books. I interviewed people. I took classes. I discussed things with hubby, and the perfect plan ensued.

In time, I found myself as the nurturing Momma hen to four delightful boys (about three years apart in age). Our homeschool journey fascinated me. Having loved books and going to the library as a child, I adored taking the boys to check out books and we read aloud 'til they dropped off to sleep at night. And I discovered the classics that I had missed as a child (pretty much all of them) so I delightedly would read, while the child-in-me clapped at each book's end for an encore.

 Just about all grown up!

It dawned on me down the road, somewhere between consonant blends and algebra, that I was getting much more out of homeschooling than I'd realized. I had been educating myself right along with the boys! 

The history and geography I knew little of and hadn't liked in grade school, now caught my attention through the lively stories we read and fun activities we did. The arithmetic I had forgotten, reappeared with new meaning. Experiments pretty much just happened in our household and my love for nursing and the workings of the human body kept me on my toes fashioning unit studies using living books in many fascinating areas of science. The arts I enjoyed gave me opportunities to share with my sons and we ventured into new crafty areas. The creative writing I adored (needing much polish) opened doors for self-improvement as I learned many of the missing links in my English education. Bible studies came alive as we took from what we learned to make our lives more complete and useful with our new understanding of God's design for our lives and grace through Jesus Christ. 

Of course, parenting, being a homeschool Mom, and attempting to keep a marriage in swing was/is quite an education in itself.

I think there is a point here somewhere . . . You will learn what you have an interest in learning. Force feeding doesn't work. A child needs to be engaged to learn, just like we do as adults. Sure, I learned things and passed tests with As for many years growing up, but that information quickly left me. Last year I studied for four months every day and re-took my RN licensure exams and passed! I was stunned, but you know, I had some interest in the material, but did cram a lot in and that short-term memory study for a test didn't last too long. If I don't use the material much will be lost. We can expect the same from our kids.

Perceptions are important. Writing is not a school subject, it's a necessary life skill. Engaging children in such a way that appeals to them is a worthy goal in all subject areas. Embracing a child's learning style and individual abilities just adds more education to your life! 

Now that all my sons have graduated, homeschool hasn't ended for me, and it hasn't ended for them. In fact, my youngest son wasn't all gung-ho about the graduating aspect completing 12th grade at all. I thought it was a big thing—apparently not for him. He said he doesn't like the way some new grads he knows think that they've arrived somehow. For him the transition toward his future life is just another step in the learning game, as it should be. Every day brings something new and there is so much to learn! I like that mindset. And I admire and respect his perspective, so I didn't make a big deal of graduation (even though I wanted to).

We educate ourselves in our own ways. Just by living, we learn whether we want to or not. Make the most of it!

“I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope” (Psalm 16: 8, 9).

I think I've had a pretty good education thus far—thanks guys, for all you've taught me!  

Happy Homeschooling!

—KathyMarie

Motivating Boys to Do School

I responded to an e-newsletter about this subject when a frustrated mom said her boys "do not want to do their schoolwork, and it is a battle come school time." Her slightly older daughter was a different story. I thought I would share my perspective here:

I've been a homeschooling mom of four sons for the past 17+ years and I think I've learned some valuable lessons. I know that this is not necessarily a "boy" problem, though it may be more prevalent since boys tend to mature slower than girls. Some personality types adore all the paper work and attention to details while some students (especially some boys) just aren't impressed. All children however should have a natural curiosity and be excited about learning which can be expressed in a number of ways—other than writing or filling in workbooks etc. If you use a "canned" curriculum that is meant for a classroom of kids, there is no way that you will be teaching to your individual child's strengths, interests or abilities.

We approached school as an enjoyable learning time and "lifestyle" together—very flexible. My desire to learn along with my sons meant that I was always very involved. I made time to do more fun things together, tap into their interests, utilize more oral (rather than written) expressions of learning in the earlier years, along with many hands-on activities. We always read aloud and discussed many great books together. Unit studies worked very well for us. I had two very late readers who eventually caught up. I had a gifted son who needed very little from me, as well as two sons with delayed abilities which meant doing math together for many years, lots of spelling games, and utilizing hands-on learning. My advice is to tune into your children's needs and wants.

How do you get them to care and become self motivated? You have to spark their interest. They have to see a relevancy in what you are making them do. Here are some ideas: Find more practical and interesting writing assignments—a letter to Grandpa, a friend or the President! Keep notes about observations for a science project; design a game and write the activity cards for it; create true/false questions about a subject you are learning and test Dad and your friends; dramatize a story; let them dictate a story or poem to you and make it into a real book to be shared; write a review on a book they liked for a kid's magazine or Amazon.com; make a recording of a story complete with sound effects; enjoy scrapbooking as a family writing captions for photos or each member can tell their side of the picture story presented. Project oriented ideas can be wonderful motivators adding a fun element. (see my list of many more ideas in a previous posting)

Help children to take pride in their work. Offer encouragement and praise for each little success they show. Take it one step at a time. It may be that your expectations are too high. Help them form good new habits and enjoy expressing their ideas. Learn to enjoy your boys and their unique perspective on life and don't be afraid to ask them what they'd like to learn and follow up on it. Pray, pray and keep on praying for God to guide you in this awesome journey of living and learning with your precious children.

Photo Credit: Benjamin takes a different look at Jeremiah who is reading a creative story he wrote to a class of other homeschoolers.

A Brand New Homeschooling Year!

I'm finding out that when you have a side job that consists of a lot of writing, you don't have much time to write the things you really want to write about—I miss that part of my life!

I haven't written here in so long I feel the urge to just put down a little something so here goes:

Anyway, we've started a brand new school year here, with the last two boys in homeschool high school. I love the beginning of the year and the goal planning stage. The boys have written their goals and I've been working on mine and things are going well. I REALLY want to encourage as much independence as possible with our studies and assist the boys in meeting their goals. I'm open to "What do you want to study for history or science?" as well as "What are your personal goals?

One of Jeremiah's goals is learning how to speak, read and write French. He got interested in this over the summer when he met some French speaking Canadians. I'm thrilled!

I'm utilizing some DVDs this year and we're enjoying one called "How to Be a Super Star Student". Sounds kind of corny, I know, but there's some good stuff in it—and stuff to make you think seriously about study habits and your future. Math DVDs and Language/Composition are on the agenda as well. Standard Deviants has some fun stuff—and you know—we're learning too! Have you guessed I have an auditory learner? I should have been using more DVDs and audios all along!

I look forward to the coming year in a big way. I'm filled with expectations as I always am, but each year that I get closer to the idea of the empty nest, I just want to cherish the days as long as they are there. Sometimes I reminisce about the olden homeschooling years but they are gone. It's a different homeschooling scene here now. But you know, it's just as good!

I hope you have some worthy goals lined up for yourself and family and enjoy the year to the fullest!

Blessed by an Education!

My life has been a whirlwind of activity the past month and it looks like its not going to slow down much, if at all!

It's so interesting and faith building to look back and see the hand of God in the circumstances surrounding your life. I have felt Him nudging me to write more and more and knew that He was going to use me somewhere down the line in that capacity. One thing has led to another and another and I found myself accepted into a special Marketing Class being offered by TOS (The Old Schoolhouse Magazine) of which I had recently begun a subscription. I was one of 30, chosen out of 125 for this amazing, educational, one month class.

Why was I interested in marketing, of all things? Well, we are a home business family that produces a bimonthly magazine where advertising is involved, and we are looking for new ways to promote ourselves. We also have web sites, my sons are interested in small business ventures, and hey, it's just become an interest so I thought, I can learn something worthwhile here. I was right.

I have been telling myself more and more, that when opportunity comes knocking, if you can, take advantage of it. I didn't want to miss out on this opportunity involving my favorite homeschool magazine with these 30+ friendly, awesome ladies from TOS and elsewhere. AND at the end of the class they offered several staff positions to ladies that had done especially well and successfully completed the class.

Guess what? I was one of those offered a position. Wow, I was almost in shock, but I knew God had called me into this and I shouldn't be surprised at what He can do through me. My new part time position is E-book Production Assistant, and I will work with the production of E-books that TOS produces, writing ads (sell sheets) and managing the E-books and I'm even contributing a chapter in their soon to be released new book To Market, To Market. (The publisher really liked my last written assignment and asked if I'd expand it for the book.) Getting compensated for writing is a dream come true. I pray that I can be a great team member and be used in a significant way in this new endeavor, and continue to be an encouragement to homeschoolers through TOS.

A Job Well Done

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." -Ecclesiastes

The packed auditorium was buzzing with excitement as we sat among a few scattered parents and dozens of children of all sizes and ages. It was Jeremiah's turn to audition for his first full length play, Seussical the Musical. He had been given a page of script in which he had just a few minutes to review and then gave a "cold" reading. Pretty good.

We waited some more. Time to sing. Wait a minute, can Jeremiah sing? His chosen song was the humorous parody Cats in the Kettle sung to the tune of Cats in the Cradle as written by Weird Al (If you've never heard it, look it up on the web). The audience was tickled with his antics and his voice, and I think that's what won him the part of The Grinch. He also played a double role as the eagle.

Though on stage for most of the production, his speaking (and solo singing) parts were relatively small. He went to almost all of the practice days of which there were too many, often having to wait long periods for his turn to come up. He really gave his all to each of four performances.

Well the play has been long over for months now, but several lasting friendships resulted, and so many good things have transpired as part of that experience. (A dream of mine was for the boys to be able to participate in the realm of drama or perhaps speech in some way.)

A few weeks ago Jeremiah got notice in the mail that he was nominated for an award and to please come to the awards ceremony which was last Saturday night. We went not expecting anything but a good time, but we were pleasantly surprised. The very first award given was for "Outstanding Performance By a Supporting Actor in Children's Literature" (of which all nominations were from Seussical) and Jeremiah won! He went up on stage and received his award and said his thank-you.

This unexpected delight was recognition of a job well done that somebody(s) had noticed. It amazed us to think of the large cast of characters in the play and that he was chosen. A speaker for the Arts Council summed it up this way: "Their role may or may not have been a big one, but their performance was such that when you walked out the theater door, their character made a definite impact on you."

Congratulations again to Jeremiah for a job well done!

Delighted to be Homeschooling

I retrieved a few old pals from last year and mixed in a few curious new friends from my overcrowded bookshelves, prioritized which subjects to study, thoughtfully listed some favorite want-to-read-alouds, bought some colorful notebooks and pens, found my surprise box of zoology microscope slides that I saved, and I'm rarin' to begin our adventure. I'm excited! Today was our first day to ease back into a homeschool schedule.

I say schedule even though we tend to be very flexible and relaxed. Everyone needs an agenda and I'd be lost without my weekly plan book where I write down every thing we do and plan future projects. I have a well intentioned but forgetful mind so I have to include safeguards here and there that help snap me back where I knew I wanted to be.

I love learning with the boys. It's a favorite activity! If you read this blog long enough you'll find me repeating those statements again and again. Is there anything better than relating to your child about something wonderful that God had made or revealed to you? This is what we deal with every day in our unique learning environment.

I'd love to say that my younger two boys are so independent in their learning, but they are probably pretty typical guys. They like critters, computer games, movies, playing chess, telling jokes and arm wrestling. They do each have their different interests, but they can use a good nudging and a lot of inspiration at times, and I do see time wasters flashing their lights in my direction a bit too often. We haven't "enjoyed" regular TV or even cable for twenty years, but the VCR and computer came into our lives early on. I can't go back and change those things but I feel happiest when schooling is in session.

Jeremiah, 13, also likes photography and I'm very impressed that he has pursued this interest somewhat this summer (the photos are his). I'm trying to figure out a way to have this be a part of his studies also, doing an insect/creature book or writing descriptions with scrapbook pages and to learn more about design and composition.

Benjamin, 16, has been working part time and that is a BIG change in his life where he is learning all manner of responsibility and work ethics. I am impressed with him also. A devotional book I plan to use is Bob Shultz's Created For WORK - Practical Insights for Young Men, and I'm sure Benjamin will have some first hand experiences to share with us. He's a wonderful reader with an auditory learning style and real living books continue to be the gist of our eclectic education. We don't typically use a formal subject textbook, but have found the Apologia sciences quite interesting. Ben will be doing the Exploring Creation with Biology and possibly getting together with a few other students for the experiment labs. I hope it works out.

Every year (for last 17 years) we've been doing things just a tad different. The boys change and I change. Subjects that do bear repeating can be done with a new twist to keep it interesting. I switched Jeremiah to a new math program just this morning. Book collecting has been a long term hobby which I love but I have found that having too many choices can make me crazy. It's better for me to select fewer options to focus on, but it's always nice to know my friends will be there for me.

I have many writing programs and seem to always be looking for the BEST. Probably any that I use would be fine. I am putting an emphasis on creative writing this year because it's a special interest of my own, I've been reading a lot and writing more myself, and think we need to share our loves & interests with our children. And I know that they have so much inside just waiting to be expressed in a creative writing sort of way. I continue to delight in seeing their written expressions (selves) come to life!

Recently on an email list the members were asked, "What books have most influenced your thinking with homeschooling?" I thought I would share my list here with some highlights I've uncovered that have helped me along our journey.

• The Relaxed Homeschool and The Joyful Homeschooler by Mary Hood, Ph.D.: So many new homeschoolers think their child has to cover every subject, complete every page in the book, and pass every test with A's - and they attempt to imitate with their children the education that they endured as a child. I found good, practical advice, tips for relaxing and trusting God, and following His individual plan for our family. Reading these were very encouraging to me that it was OK to be my flexible, creative self and apply it to my homeschool. It's also OK to follow a different format based on your child's individuality and needs. The multiplication tables don't have to be taught in third grade and there are going to be gaps in your students' education. I don't have to cover everything. Textbooks that try to cram so much in a small book don't do justice to the topics it shares. Reading a real book on a certain subject allows the child to really grasp a subject and internalize it for later use. I started thinking more along the lines of “What is God wanting us to learn and do?” and listening closely for His guidance.

• Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto: This past New York State Teacher of the Year showed me why typical, compulsory education is really anti-child education. He confirmed to me what I had already believed, though it was inspiring to hear it from a public educator who dared to radicalize the system and re-engage his students toward natural curiosity, independence, love of learning and community involvement. Each year I reassess if home schooling is the right choice for us at this time and in the back of my mind there is Mr. Gatto shaking his head at me and saying, "Your boys deserve the best you can give them. A collective institution that is designed to produce obediently functioning, intellectually dependent cogs, is contrary to the spirited, individualized expressions of learning that you can provide them at home in your care." I realized that imitating the public school system was out of the question and I appreciated the strong language, openness and kick in the head where I needed it!

• The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook by Dr. Raymond Moore: Pushing children (especially boys) too hard, too soon into formal learning is a “don't do”! They need those early years for exploration, play and natural growth to maturity. Since my two middle sons were very late readers I identified with this good wisdom. It didn't inhibit them in any way and in their own God given time frame, they caught up and advanced quickly. Homeschooling is more like a stress free family adventure built around your child's needs and interests. There are plenty of worthwhile creative endeavors like games, projects, crafts and work that young children should be involved in. There's a bounty of fabulous ideas, encouraging personal stories and support for everyone that loves the idea of family oriented education.

• The Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola: I own quite a number of books on the Charlotte Mason style of learning and I love them all. This is the one I refer back to the most, however. Ms. Mason's ideas for narration, copywork and dictation stood out for me to include in our education which I have delighted in and continue to use. Having the teacher mind that I do, I used to write up many of my own lessons similar to the ones in the Learning Language Arts Through Literature curriculum. This one book (along with use of a library) is the best and only book someone needs to have to homeschool effectively. Easy read, easy implementation and great results!

• Teach Your Own by John Holt: Here was an early private school educator and granddaddy homeschool guru who knows all about education and children. His friendly wisdom can persuade like no one else I've read. It's all packed in here. The chapter on dyslexia was an eye opener for me, and taught me that children with labels are smart indeed! Every parent is a facilitator and capable of teaching their own children and "watching the miracle of natural human development take off on its own." (quote from a fan)